[exhibit] EXISTIR ES RESISTIR // SF
EXISTIR ES RESISTIR is a tribute to the resilience of our communities.
As culture keepers, we move through the world guided by our ancestors and held by the strength of each other. This work is a celebration of identity, resistance, and the vibrancy of cultures that continue to bloom despite erasure, displacement, and oppression.
✨ EXISTIR ES RESISTIR
📅 Opening Night.
Friday, July 25 | 5–9pm
📍 Location: Juan R. Fuentes Gallery, Acción Latina (2958 24th St, SF).
About exhibit:
Portrait artist Alexa “LexMex” Treviño set out to photograph an individual or group representing each of the 33 countries of Latin America.
It is her gift back to the Mission community: “Each portrait is a love letter to the places and people who hold our stories. A reminder that our culture is alive, rooted, and unshakable.”
Her upcoming show, Existir es Resistir, opens July 25 at Acción Latina, the nonprofit arts and media organization that also publishes El Tecolote.
A portrait photographer by training, Treviño brings studio-quality lighting and cultural precision to the streets of the Mission, carefully lighting different skin tones and highlighting traditional regalia — details often overlooked in mainstream photography.
In doing so, she’s stepping into a gap, putting her subjects first, and investing both physical and imaginative labor to honor the people who shape the Mission as home.
“Latinos are not a monolith,” Treviño says. “Our diversity is not a fracture — it is our power.”
We are rooted.
We are ancestral.
Our presence is not new, it’s a continuation of everything that came before us.
These photographs are my offering to the Mission—my home, my community, and my heart. They reflect the beauty and strength that lives in our people: regalia passed down through generations, the wisdom of our elders, and the fire of our youth. Our diversity is not a fracture, it is our power. Each portrait is a love letter to the places and people who hold our stories, and a reminder that our culture is alive, rooted, and unshakable.
